


Troublemaker

by AHappyPup, onceuponanevilangel



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Podfic Welcome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-20
Updated: 2015-07-24
Packaged: 2018-04-10 08:18:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4384313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AHappyPup/pseuds/AHappyPup, https://archiveofourown.org/users/onceuponanevilangel/pseuds/onceuponanevilangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She was a federal agent, but her body couldn’t even put up with this?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter is much more Peggy & Colleen rather than Peggy/Angie, but we do promise you that Angie will be much more prominent in the second chapter.

“Mew Mew!”

Colleen furrowed her brow. She had just been drinking a cup of tea, attempting to warm herself before she went to sleep when she heard the mewling sound. Her gazed turned to her sleeping roommate. The noise continued, but it didn’t sound like it was coming from Peggy. 

She braced herself for the feeling of cold hardwood on her feet and wandered towards the window by their bed. The sound grew louder, and when Colleen gently lifted the curtains there was a small kitten sitting on their window ledge.

“Mew!” The kitten’s face lit up, his little paws tapping on the window.

“Hello, precious.” Colleen’s face melted into a warm smile. Without a second thought she opened the window slightly, letting the kitten inside. “You’re freezing, let’s get you in here where it’s warm,” she said, cuddling him close. The kitten purred, rubbing his head against Colleen’s housecoat.

She settled them down into her chair covering them up for the night. Colleen stroked the kitten, trying to calm them both into sleep. “I’m sure Peg won’t mind another roommate, just for tonight.”

\---

Peggy was aware of exactly three things when she woke up that morning.

1)It was cold  
2)Her nose tickled  
3)There was a blob of brown in front of her.

It took a few blinks for the world to shift into focus and a few more for her to actually believe what she was looking at.

There was a kitten sitting on her chest, staring at her with wide, amber eyes. Once it saw that she was awake, it mewed at her and reached one paw out to tap her cheek.

“Ugh, get off,” Peggy grumbled as she rolled over. The kitten jumped off her chest and padded along the mattress until it was sitting right in front of Peggy’s face again. The tickling sensation in her nose increased as the kitten rubbed its face against her cheek. Two sneezes escaped her nose, scaring the kitten away. “Bugger,” she murmured to herself rubbing at her itchy eyes. Why in the world was there a cat in her apartment?

“Bless you, Peg,” Colleen said, coming into view from the kitchen area. She perched herself on the side of the bed handing Peggy a clean handkerchief from the drawer. “I see you’ve met our guest.”

Peggy sat up slowly, running the handkerchief across her nose. “I must ask, why is there a cat in our bed?” 

“I found him out on the ledge last night. Isn’t he cute?”

“That’s one word for it,” Peggy said. She had never been particularly fond of cats and the kitten was sitting on the floor eyeing her in a way that she could only be described as a glare. Peggy narrowed her eyes right back at him. The effect was ruined when she sneezed again.

“Geez, Peg, are you feeling okay? You sound like you might be coming down with something,” Colleen said, her brow furrowing with concern.

Peggy groaned, sitting up a bit straighter. “Just a cold perhaps.” Her throat felt quite sore; her breath had a slight wheeze. “Nothing too severe. I’ll get ready in a minute.”

“Alright,” Colleen said. She didn’t look entirely convinced, but she stood up and headed back over to the stove. “There’s still enough water on the stove for tea if you want some. I’m going to leave a little early to bring this little guy by the vet. Will I see you tonight?”

“You should,” Peggy coughed a little. Granted that the ‘phone company’ didn’t hold her up or she didn’t wind up sleeping the day away. “A cup of tea and some aspirin and I’ll be good as new.”

That seemed good enough for Colleen and she smiled brightly. “See you tonight, then.” She leaned down to pick up the kitten, nuzzling her nose into its fur. “And who knows? If we can’t find this little guy a home today then maybe he’ll see you tonight too.”

Peggy nodded, moving to get ready. “Hopefully I’ll see you both again this evening.” She cleared her throat, gave the kitten a pet on the head, and nudged Colleen in the direction of the door. “Have a good visit. And get some sleep when you come back.”

“I will,” Colleen said. She grabbed her purse and opened the door, calling a quick, “Have a good day at work.” over her shoulder as she left.

Once she was alone, Peggy walked over to the stove to make herself a cup of tea before she got dressed. The steam curling off the surface helped clear her sinuses and the warm liquid felt nice going down her scratchy throat. She was feeling almost like herself again after she bathed and put her clothes on. She collected an extra handkerchief or two just to be safe, but for the most part Peggy was ready to face the day.

Her work was relatively uneventful that day: a lot of paperwork, the men arguing about some suspect or another that she wasn’t allowed to know about, fetching lunch orders. By mid-morning she had almost completely forgotten about feeling sick that morning. 

It wasn’t until evening came again that she began to feel unwell again. Peggy was laying on their bed, doing a little reading to unwind after a stressful day when her nose started to become congested and her throat ached.

That was also when she noticed a few strands of brown fur on the pillow next to her and the bowls on the floor in the kitchen. And that little brown kitten was sitting on the chair, rubbing his head against Peggy’s favorite purple dress which was hanging over the back. She glared at it for a moment and it leaped off the chair, hopped up on the bed next to her, and batted at her nose.

Peggy sneezed again, swatting the kitten away from her lightly. Her skin was itchy and irritated where the fur had made contact. She vaguely remembered something similar happening to her mother when she was around cats. Of course her mother was...

Allergic.

It made perfect sense.

“Shoo,” she muttered, pushing the cat lightly off the bed. She dropped her book, stood up, and walked over to the open window. The cool, fresh air helped soothe the irritation at least a little and she closed her eyes just as Colleen walked into the apartment.

“Hey, Peggy. What are you doing over there? Are you okay?” Colleen asked.

“Fine, darling,” Peggy sniffled. “Just trying to get some fresh air. Shouldn’t you be at work?”

“I forgot one of my tools. Peggy, are you sure you’re okay? Are you still feeling sick?” She approached Peggy with concern, but Peggy shrugged her away.

“I think I’m allergic to our houseguest,” she admitted sheepishly. “I felt fine all day at work, but once he started crawling on me and our things I started feeling ill again.” As if on cue, Peggy sneezed a few more times. 

The kitten ran towards Colleen who promptly picked him up.  
“Allergic?” she asked, cradling the kitten in the crook of her neck. “Are you sure it’s not just a cold?”  
“I’m pretty sure,” Peggy said. She could feel her cheeks heating up, but she couldn’t tell if it was from the hint of embarrassment at admitting weakness or the allergies. “Look, I don’t want to be a bother, but I don’t think I can stay here for very long if he’s still here, especially seeing as how he seems to prefer rubbing against my things rather than yours.” 

The kitten mewed and batted at a loose lock of Colleen’s hair. Colleen looked from it to Peggy and back again before a steely resolve crossed her features.

“Let me knock on some doors and see if I can find someone to take him until I can find him a better home. You open the windows and then go get some fresh air. I’ll change the sheets and do the laundry when I get back.” 

“I thought you had to be back at work,” Peggy said.

“Making sure my friend can live in her own home is more important right now. I’ll make up the hours tomorrow. You should go. I can practically hear you wheezing from here.” 

Peggy sighed, feeling grateful and a bit frustrated. She was a federal agent, and her body couldn’t even put up with a cat? “Thank you. I’ll make it up to you in the morning.”

Colleen shook her head and started walking out of the apartment. “No need. Get some air, make a little tea, whatever you need.” She left no room for arguing as she left the apartment. “Come on, troublemaker. Let’s see if Miss Walker will take you. Or maybe Miss Adams... ” 

Peggy shook her head and went back to the relief of the cool air. She’d feel better after everything was cleaned up, and things would be normal again. And as far as she was concerned, normal meant one thing.

No more cats.

Or so she thought.


	2. Chapter 2

“English? Are you home?” Angie called out into the empty parlor. It had been a long day for her between the chilling rain, the awful audition, and the grumpy customers; and she could bet money that Peggy had had a long day as well. But under her coat, she held something she was sure to cheer the both of them up. It made a small mewling noise against her chest

“Shh.” Angie smiled, patting her coat. “Peg? I got a surprise for you!”

“In the library, darling.” 

Angie followed the sound of Peggy’s voice to the library and found Peggy sitting in one of the plush armchairs by the fireplace, a worn-out copy of Pride and Prejudice on her lap. When she saw Angie, she smiled and stood up.

“A surprise you say?” she asked, quirking an eyebrow and reaching out to wrap her arms around Angie’s waist. She was about to move even closer when Angie’s coat squirmed and she jumped back.

“Close your eyes, English,” Angie teased, soothing the ‘surprise’ underneath her coat.

Peggy looked at her skeptically, but did as she was asked. “Eyes closed.”

Angie smiled and out from her coat she pulled a small kitten. He was soaked to the bone, but affectionate as he rubbed his head against Angie’s hand. Slowly he inched forward in Angie’s hands and reached a paw out onto Peggy’s hand. “Surprise!”

“You got a kitten,” Peggy said, hoping that Angie wouldn’t hear the note of displeasure in her voice.

Luckily, it went completely undetected as Angie’s smile got bigger.

“Yeah! I found him in a puddle on my way home from work and there was no way I could just leave him there, so I took him home. Isn’t he just the cutest little thing you’ve ever seen?”

The kitten looked up at Peggy with sweet, round eyes and let out the tiniest mew she had ever heard. It was, in fact, far too cute for Peggy’s liking. Especially since she could already feel her skin starting to itch where the kitten was touching her.

“He is,” Peggy laughed nervously. 

Angie raised her eyebrow. “What’s wrong, English?”

She had allergies. That’s all she had to say. Angie wouldn’t fault her for that. But she could see the sparkle in those bright blue eyes as Angie let the kitten crawl onto her shoulder and Peggy couldn’t do it. “Darling, are we even going to have time to care for him? We both work all day. I’d hate for him to become neglected.” There, that was reasonable enough for herself. Maybe, for Angie as well.

“Cats are pretty easy to take care of actually. My neighbor had one when I was a kid and as long there was food and water and a litter box, she was happy. The cat, not my neighbor. I mean, my neighbor was happy too, but--”

Angie was cut off suddenly when Peggy whipped her head to the side and sneezed into her elbow.

“You alright, Peg?” Angie asked.

Once again, Peggy was a second away from telling her the truth, but then kitten rubbed his head on Angie’s cheek and Angie smiled as she nuzzled his fur and the words got caught in Peggy’s throat.

“I’m fine. It’s nothing. Back to the issue at hand. You really want to take in a stray kitten that you know nothing about?”

Angie scoffed. “It’s not like I know nothing. I helped care for the neighbor’s cat, refilling the water bowl. It’s not like it’s that hard. We just need to keep him-” Angie gave Peggy a wild stare. “Are you sure you’re alright? You’re wheezing.” 

“Fine, Angie,” she coughed. “Well I suppose if we’re keeping him, he’ll need a name.”

The kitten was batting at Angie’s hair, his mouth open as he tried to catch the curls. Angie giggled and lifted him up to her face. “What about Troublemaker? He looks like he’d be the type to get into all sorts of trouble.”

“That sounds fine to me,” Peggy said. “So long as he doesn’t cause too much trouble.”

Angie smiled and started walking off into another room. “Come on, Troublemaker. Let’s get you a bowl of water.”

Peggy shook her head and followed Angie. The things she did for her love.

_______

For the next hour or so, Peggy stayed in the library, the only change being that she had moved her chair to the window. The cool, autumn breeze seemed to help soothe the symptoms and for a while, she almost managed to convince herself that she was fine.

Then it was dinnertime.

Angie had made chicken parmesan--one of Peggy’s favorite dishes--and ordinarily Peggy would have enjoyed it.

Ordinarily, though, there was no kitten weaving between her legs and pawing at the hem of her skirt as she ate. 

Angie made note that Peggy asn’t acting right. She was barely touching her food, her eyes looked red and puffy- almost as if she had been crying. There was something she wasn’t telling her. “Rough day, English?” she asked, sympathetically putting a hand on top of Peggy’s. 

“Tired.” Peggy kept her eyes focused on the piece of chicken she was struggling to eat. Though he’d only been there a few hours, Troublemaker had already caused that uncomfortable scratchy feeling in her throat.

Angie’s eyes softened as she squeezed Peggy’s hand. “Why don’t you go upstairs, take a bath, and get ready for bed? I’ll make you a cup of tea, and we’ll go to bed early tonight?” she offered, concern lining her voice.

Peggy nodded. “Alright,” she sniffled as she moved away from the table. “I’ll see you up there soon.”

“I’m a woman of my word.” Angie gave her a light smile before shooing her upstairs. “Go.”

Peggy didn’t need to be told twice. She hurried up the stairs and into the bathroom door. Once inside, she turned the shower on and just stood there for a moment, letting the steam fill the room and help her breathe again.

There was a pretty big part of her that knew she was being ridiculous and childish and that she should just tell Angie the truth. After all, Angie was pretty quick to pick things up and it wasn’t like Peggy would be able to lie forever. The cold excuse could only last for so long.

But then she remembered how happy Angie looked when she held that kitten. How she had smiled when he batted at her hair and how she had laughed when his whiskers tickled her neck. Peggy couldn’t bear to take that away from her. So after a warm, relaxing fifteen minutes, Peggy braced herself for their bedroom, hoping Troublemaker hadn’t made his way into their bed.

He had. And on her side of the bed too.

Angie was already sitting down, a steaming cup of tea in her hands. “There you are, English.” She reached over the kitten, patting on the mattress. “Come here, tell me ‘bout you crappy day.”

Peggy sighed lying back against the headboard. She had gone on some diatribe about the men at the SSR. It was believable, even if they weren’t too terrible today. Anything to keep her mind off her nose that kept threatening to drip or the wheeze in her breath or how badly she needed to sneeze.

Troublemaker squirmed his way up the mattress and wedged himself between Peggy and Angie who started petting him absently. She cooed at him softly, but looked up when Peggy sneezed twice into her hand.

“Alright, English, are you going to tell me what’s wrong or am I going to have to force it out of you?” Angie asked.

“What are you talking about, darling?” Peggy asked.

“I knew something was wrong with you as soon as I got home, but you didn’t want to tell me, so I didn’t ask, but I’m worried about you. What’s wrong?”

“I think I’m just coming down with a little cold that’s been going-”

“Don’t give me that. I’ve known you long enough to know you never admit to being sick unless you’re half dead on your feet. What’s really going on?”

Peggy sighed. There was no use in lying to her now. “I’m allergic to the cat.” She kept her eyes focused on her lap.

Angie’s initial response was to slap Peggy’s arm. “Why didn’t you say something?” Then she promptly picked Troublemaker out of his spot and onto her shoulder away from Peggy. 

“He made you so ha- ha-” A sneeze cut her off.

Angie frowned and handed her a tissue. “And he’s making you miserable. I’m going to move him into one of the spare rooms, and then I’ll call one of my brothers in the morning to see if they’ll take him. Lord knows Marco could use another cat. ” 

“Angie, don’t get rid of him on my account. I can handle it and I--” She sneezed into the tissue and sniffled. Before she could get any more words out, Angie pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.

“But the thing is, you don’t have to. Let me go put this little guy in the other room and maybe we can move into the other rooms for the night. I’ll wash the sheets in the morning.”

“You’re too good to me, darling,” Peggy teased with a small smile. Angie just rolled her eyes as she stood up.

“Yeah. Making sure my best gal can sleep in her own bed is a real sacrifice on my part,” she quipped. Peggy rolled her eyes and moved from the bed. She caught Angie from behind and kissed her on the neck, not even bothered by Troublemaker on Angie’s shoulder. “Wait until after I get this little guy settled. Then you can do that all you want,” she teased.

Peggy smiled, kissing her again. “I’ll go set up my old room for us. Meet you there?”

“I sure as hell ain’t kissing the cat all night.”

Peggy laughed as she made her way down the hall to the second biggest bedroom in the house complete with a dark four-poster bed, a plush, purple duvet, and cat-hair-free sheets. She dropped unceremoniously onto the bed and didn’t move until she heard Angie walk in.

“He’s got food and water and he seems to have taken quite a liking to one of the quilts in there that looks really expensive,” Angie said as she walked over and stood at the foot of the bed so she could look at Peggy. “I don’t think we have to worry about him bothering us for the rest of the night.”

“Oh really.” Peggy quirked a brow as she sat up and wrapped her arms around Angie’s waist. “And how exactly do you propose we spend all this uninterrupted time?” 

Angie smirked, wrapping her own arms around Peggy. “I think we could find something” She pecked her on the lips. 

Peggy smiled before kissing her back. “I think so as well, darling.”

Angie straddled Peggy’s legs and leaned in to capture red-painted lips in a heated kiss. 

Suddenly, Peggy pulled away and before Angie could even ask, Peggy sneezed.

“Angie, darling, you did think to change out of the clothes the kitten was crawling all over before you came in here, right?”

Angie’s cheeks flushed a light shade of pink and she got off of Peggy’s lap, murmuring a quick “I’ll be right back.”

Peggy shook her head and sent Angie on her way. “I’ll be waiting when you’re done, troublemaker.”

Angie was halfway out the door when she suddenly turned around, her hands on the doorframe and a sparkle in her eye that Peggy knew always came before something big.

“One more thing, English. I know cats are off the table, but how do you feel about puppies?”

“I’m not allergic if that’s what you’re asking,” Peggy smiled. “And they are better than cats in my own humble opinion. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, no reason,” Angie said. “I’ll be back in just a minute.”

Peggy rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t help the smile that toyed at her lips as she flopped back down on the duvet. It had been a long day and there was no way she could say Angie hadn’t surprised her. She could hear Angie rummaging around in their room and her eyes slipped closed as she waited.

The things she did for her love.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So surprise bonus chapter! Benadryl was available in 1946 by prescription only, so we thought it would befunny to see Peggy try and get some by whatever manner so that she and Angie could have a cat.

It wasn’t an unusual occurrence for the kitchen phone to ring. Usually it was Jarvis calling to alert them he was on his way over, especially after he had walked in on an uncomfortable situation, or Peggy to tell her she was on her way home. So when Angie was working on supper that night, she answered happily.

“Hello?” 

“Angie, tell your girlfriend to stop being such a dumbass.”

“Howard?” Well that was a new one. Usually he just showed up uninvited. A phone call--especially one concerning Angie’s ‘girlfriend’--was probable cause for alarm.

“Yeah, it’s me. Peggy’s on her way home and you need to tell her she’s being ridiculous because she sure as hell won’t hear it from me.”

“Why? What’s going on?” Angie asked, twisting the phone around her finger. “Is she doing something that I need to be concerned about?”

“She hasn’t done anything yet, but she left with that look in her eye today and I know she’s gonna do something dumb and you’re the only one that ever seems to be able to talk any sense into her.”

“Can you give me any kind of hint as far as this dumb thing is?” Angie rolled her eyes. Even for a man in covert operations, he was being quite vague. 

“She’s trying to go undercover at a pet store.”

Angie’s face twisted. “What’s so dumb about- oh. Wait, why? All three of us know she has allergies. Heck, I think just about everyone in that fancy operation of yours--that I know absolutely nothing about--knows that.”

“I don’t know. That’s why I called you, Ang,” he groaned. “Will you talk to her?”

Angie sighed and pulled her finger out of the cord. “Yeah, I’ll talk to her. Is that all?”

“Yeah, that’s it. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye, Howard,” Angie said. Just as she hung up the phone, she heard the front door open and the unmistakable sound of Peggy’s heels on the hardwood floor. Angie took a short breath before steeling herself and stalking into the foyer, her hands on her hips and what she really hoped was a glare on her face.

“Hello, darling,” Peggy said breezily as she hung up her coat. “How was your day?”

“Well I just got off the phone with Howard. Anything you feel like telling me, Margaret?”

Peggy’s brow furrowed. “Full name? We usually reserve that for a more intimate setting..”

Angie gave her a hard stare. “Peggy...”

“I assume he told you about the mission then?”

“Yeah. He did. Explain?”

Peggy looked taken aback at Angie’s sharp tone and she crossed her arms over her chest as she spoke. “To make a long story short, there’s a new medication available that can supposedly treat allergies, but that bloody doctor wouldn’t give me a prescription for it, so I volunteered for a mission that needed to be done anyway.”

Angie groaned, putting a hand in front of her face. “And if you did get that medication, what would you do with it? We said that we’re too high-maintenance for any pets aside from Jemma and whatever other fish we get, and we agreed on no more flowers.”

“Cats aren’t that high-maintenance, darling.”

“Peggy, no. You’re going to be miserable. I can’t willingly put you through that. And you don’t even know if that medicine will work.” 

“You do remember I lived in the trenches for six years don’t you?

 

“Yes, but when you were living in the trenches, I didn’t have to listen to you sneeze and sniffle your way through your day or complain about how awful you feel.”

“I don’t complain that much,” Peggy insisted, a faint pink flush making itself known on her cheeks. 

“True, but when you do, you make it count. Remember when I brought that bouquet home on Valentine’s Day? You spent the better part of the afternoon whining about how much your throat hurt.”

“In my defense, I hadn’t had very much sleep that weekend and I wasn’t feeling well to begin with and I--”

“That’s irrelevant,” Angie said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “I’m putting my foot down on this one.”

Peggy sighed and kept her eyes down. “I just want you to be happy, darling.”

“And I’m happiest when you aren’t sneezing your head off and feeling miserable,” Angie said, rolling her eyes. “I don’t need a pet to keep me happy. And even if I did, we still have Jemma.”

Peggy reached out her hand to Angie to grab on. “I know, I just thought...”

“Think again, English. Come on now. Go call Howard and get someone else to take it while I finish up supper.”

Peggy had the good graces to look at least a little bit remorseful as she kicked off her heels and followed Angie into the kitchen.

“You know if it helps, I think I may have almost traumatized that young doctor today,” Peggy said offhandedly. “His first day on the job too.”

“Geez, Peg, what’d you do to him?” Angie asked. She had already picked up her knife and gone back to slicing the carrots on the counter.

“Just pulled out the ‘Director’ card. That’s all.” Peggy had a light smile on her face. “But I do admire him for holding his ground.”

“Just call Howard already,” Angie said with a roll of her eyes. 

Peggy huffed like a petulant child, but grabbed the phone and dialed the number. Howard picked up right away.

“Hello?”

“Howard? It’s Peggy.”

“Oh hey, pal. Did your girlfriend manage to talk some sense into you?”

“She may have,” Peggy said. “And while I appreciate your concern, I would rather you keep Angie away from work as much as possible.”

“Well you were being an idiot and she was the only that was going to be able to get through to you. You’re welcome.”

“Just shut up and assign it to someone else already.”


End file.
